Fellow developers,
I propose the following amendment to the Condorcet/Clone Proof SSD vote
tallying Constitutional amendment. This amendment supersedes the
amendment proposed in Message-ID: <20030517081720.GC3503@ucsd.edu>
If the sponsor rejects this change, I request seconds on this amendment,
so that it appears on the ballot.
Rationale for change:
The amendment uses the concept of a Quorum requirement to inhibit
"stealth decisions" by only a handful of developers. While this is a
good thing, the per-option quorum from the amendment has a tendency to
further influence the outcome of the vote in a hard-to-understand
way. This modification corrects this deficiency.
An easy example: a ballot with two items plus the default item.
Quorum is 20, with 25 eligible voters voting.
A B D # of ballots cast
2 1 3 15
1 2 10
Here, option B is preferred over option A by the voters. Under the
original proposal, Option B would be discarded due to insufficient
quorum requirements, and A would win. Under the amended proposal,
option B would win.
Please join the discussion on debian-vote.
--
John H. Robinson, IV
jaqque () debian () org

--- proposal-srivasta Fri May 16 09:42:59 2003
+++ proposal-jaqque Mon May 19 11:43:13 2003
@@ -1,139 +1,139 @@
PROPOSAL
______________________________________________________________________
Constitutional amendment: Condorcet/Clone Proof SSD vote tallying:
______________________________________________________________________
Under 4.2 Procedure [for developers during a general resolution or
election], change item 3 to read:
3. Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes, tallies, and
results are not revealed during the voting period; after the
vote the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting
period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the
Project Leader.
______________________________________________________________________
Under 5.2 Appointment of project leader, change item 7 to read:
7. The decision will be made using the method specified in section
A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure. The quorum is the
same as for a General Resolution (s.4.2) and the default
option is "None Of The Above".
______________________________________________________________________
Under 6.1 Powers [of the technical committee], change item 7 to read:
7. Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee. The Chairman
is elected by the Committee from its members. All members of
the committee are automatically nominated; the committee votes
starting one week before the post will become vacant (or
immediately, if it is already too late). The members may vote
by public acclamation for any fellow committee member,
including themselves; there is no default option. The vote
finishes when all the members have voted, or when the voting
period has ended. The result is determined using the method
specified in section A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure.
______________________________________________________________________
Under A.2 Calling for a vote, change items 2 and 4 to read
2. The proposer or any sponsor of a resolution may call for a vote on that
resolution and all related amendments.
4. The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the last
formal amendment was accepted, or since the whole resolution
was proposed if no amendments have been proposed and accepted.
______________________________________________________________________
Replace A.3 with:
A.3. Voting procedure
1. Each resolution and its related amendments is voted on in a
single ballot that includes an option for the original
resolution, each amendment, and the default option (where
applicable).
2. The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
have a 1:1 majority requirement.
3. The votes are counted according to the the rules in A.6. The
default option is "Further Discussion", unless specified
otherwise.
4. In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on matters
of procedure.
______________________________________________________________________
Replace A.5 with:
A.5. Expiry
If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on or
otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks the secretary may issue a statement
that the issue is being withdrawn. If none of the sponsors of any
of the proposals object within a week, the issue is withdrawn.
The secretary may also include suggestions on how to proceed,
if appropriate.
______________________________________________________________________
Replace A.6 with:
A.6 Vote Counting
1. Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on. Not all
options need be ranked. Ranked options are considered
preferred to all unranked options. Voters may rank options
equally. Unranked options are considered to be ranked equally
with one another. Details of how ballots may be filled out
will be included in the Call For Votes.
- 2. If the ballot has a quorum requirement R any options other
- than the default option which do not receive at least R votes
- ranking that option above the default option are dropped from
+ 2. If the ballot has a quorum requirement R, and less then R votes are
+ cast, the entire vote is thrown out. The amendment may be withdrawn,
+ or a discussion period may be resumed at the sponsor's discretion.
+ 3. Any option with a supermajority requirement which does not defeat
+ the default option by its required majority ratio is dropped from
consideration.
- 3. Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default option
- by its required majority ratio is dropped from consideration.
a. Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
who prefer option A over option B.
b. An option A defeats the default option D by a majority
ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
c. If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority ratio
- is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
+ is S.
4. From the list of undropped options, we generate a list of
pairwise defeats.
a. An option A defeats an option B, if V(A,B) is strictly greater
than V(B,A).
5. From the list of [undropped] pairwise defeats, we generate a
set of transitive defeats.
a. An option A transitively defeats an option C if A defeats
C or if there is some other option B where A defeats B AND
B transitively defeats C.
6. We construct the Schwartz set from the set of transitive defeats.
a. An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B,
either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively
defeat A.
7. If there are defeats between options in the Schwartz set,
we drop the weakest such defeats from the list of pairwise
defeats, and return to step 5.
a. A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if V(A,X)
is less than V(B,Y). Also, (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) if
V(A,X) is equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B).
b. A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker
than it. There may be more than one such defeat.
8. If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner
is chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is
only one such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple
options, the elector with the casting vote chooses which of those
options wins.
RATIONALE: Options which the voters rank above the default option
are options they find acceptable. Options ranked below the default
options are options they find unacceptable.
______________________________________________________________________